Means for increasing the separating capacity of grain separating cylinders



June 7, 1938. H MQYER 2,119,997

MEANS FOR INCREASING THE SEPARATING CAPACITY OF GRAIN SEPARATINGCYLINDERS Filed Sept. 21, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 flown/20 /7. Mo YERj/W/wvm? June 7,1938. H, ER 2,119,991

MEANS FOR INCREASING THE SEPARATING CAPACITY OF GRAIN SEPARATINGCYLINDERS Filed Sept. 21, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 [mkezzfor flow/420fiMoyee.

ATTOENEYJ Patented June 7, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MEANS FORINCREASING THE SEPARATING CAPACITY OF GRAIN SEPARATING CYL- INDERSApplication September 21, 1935, Serial No. 41,613

2 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in grain separators commonly usedin the flour mill and grain trades for separating grains from oneanother and from impurities. The main object is to increase theseparating capacity of the cylinders, and the capacity is increased bypractice of my invention about fifty per cent.

I am aware that various attempts have been made to increase theseparating capacity of these cylinders, but none of the devices known tome or which I have seen in use accomplish to any appreciable degree thismuch desired result. For example, no device with which I am acquaintedso handles the grain that a greater number of pockets is made effectiveas for example by so handling the cascading grain as to cause it to becarefully and nicely delivered into empty pockets which are approachingthe grain load or grain wallowing zone of the cylinder. Moreover, in alldevices known to me, the cascading grain is allowed to fall back uponthe load or wallowing grain, whereby separation is interfered with,partly because of the size and weight of the load.

In the practice of this invention, the wallowing load is, so to speak,split in half by intercepting the cascaded material and supporting it bymeans other than the cylinder wall, and then returning it to that partof the cylinder which is approaching the load.

In the present device, means is also provided to facilitate the feed ofthe cascaded load, toward the tail end of the machine and means isfurther provided either in combination with the aforesaid means orseparately therefrom to move or feed the wallowing load, or the load inthe wallowing zone, toward the tail end of the machine.

Features of the invention include all details of construction relatingto the function of increasing the separating capacity of the cylinder,along with the broader ideas of means inherent in the disclosure.

Objects, features and advantages of the invention will be set forth inthe description of the drawings forming a part of this application andin said drawings Figure 1 is a somewhat diagrammatic longitudinalsection on line l-l of Figure 2 showing my invention operatively relatedto a separating cylinder and its assocated trough;

Figure 2 is a section on line 2-2 of Figure 1 showing upper and lowerlongitudinal-feed flights on the cascaded-load carrying plate;

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2 in which the lower set of feedflights are omitted;

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 2 in which the lower flights areomitted and in which a guard plate is provided on the tail end of thecascaded-load carrier;

Figure 5 is a modification showing the invention applied to anadjustable trough spiral-feed type of separator, with the cascading loadplate secured to the trough for movement with the trough when the latteris adjusted; and

Figure 6 is a transverse section on line 6-6 of Figure 5.

Figure 1 is a somewhat diagrammatic longitudinal section through aseparating cylinder showing one form of the invention. Numeral Iindicates the cylinder; numeral 2 the indentations; numeral 3 the troughand numeral 4 the spiral conveyor for the trough.

Referring also to Figure 2: The device of this invention, in thisembodiment, has the form of a flat plate In normally stationary andsuitably supported as by terminal rods H--l2, journaled in immovablesupports l3. In this way the plate can be angularly adjusted and afteradjustment the plate is held by set screws M. A handle or equivalentdevice [5 can be used for rotating the plate for adjustment. There is,of course, no intention to be entirely limited to a fiat plate, nor to aplate of any particular shape or size.

The plate is thus arranged within the cylinder and below the axis of thecylinder and the trough, and is spaced from both the cylinder and thetrough. The cylinders are from fourteen to twenty-eight inches indiameter. The plate I0 is from about seven to fourteen inches wide andextends to about the full length of the cylinder..

It is ordinarily arranged at a slight angle to the horizontal. Thelongitudinal edges of the plate are spaced about three-quarters of aninch from the inner face of the cylinder. This plate is adapted tointercept cascaded material and according to its angular adjustment tomore or less slowly move the material transversely across the cylinderand deliver it to that part of the cylinder which is approaching thewallowing zone. By this means the material is prevented from fallingdirectly on the top of the load and the amount of the wallowing load ispractically halved and therefore a more efficient separation occurs thanwhen the material is cascaded back upon the top of this load.

With a cylinder fourteen inches in diameter and thirty-six inches long,the maximum capacity for separating oats and other impurities from wheatis about fifty bushels per hour. By the use of this invention, thecapacity sometimesJl reaches one hundred bushels per hour, for the samemachine.

The adjustment of the trough to dispose the lip 5 conformably to thespeed of the cylinder regulates the thoroughness of the separation forany given set-up. This adjustment is, of course, made about the axis 4of the feed screw.

The plate may be said to be related to the cylinder substantially as achord to its arc, the plate of course having opposite longitudinal edgesspaced sufficiently from the cylinder to allow the material to rise andbe cascaded and be delivered to the trough. The area of the plate isrelatively large as compared with the area of the inside surface of thatportion of the cylinder below it. In these rapidly revolving cylinders,the body of grain which wallows in the bottom is generally carried bycentrifugal force well to the right of the center line. In ordinarycylinders this leaves the space at the left of the center line with theindents largely unfilled. In the present device, the cascading grain iscarried over and deposited in these vacant or partly filled indents sothat they are practically all completely filled.

The difficulty in the separators used before this invention is that manyof the pockets never fill or only receive one berry of wheat While as amatter of fact, the pocket is large enough to carry between three to sixwheat berries, the number of course depending upon the size of theberry. In the present invention, the filling of the pockets is much morethoroughly accomplished and in some instances the separation is fiftyper cent greater than is possibly obtainable with those machines of theprior art known to me.

Arranged upon the top or receiving face of the plate I0 is means forcausing the material to be gradually moved toward the tail end of thecylinder. The cylinders generally have about a ten per cent downwardpitch toward the tail. In this instance, this means comprises upstandingfins or flights 20 transversely diagonally arranged as shown, the finsbeing of relatively small height. These fins or flights are ofrelatively great value in the upper cylinder (of a two cylinder machine)inasmuch as it is desired to more quickly carry the large impurities tothe tail of the cylinder. In the lower or seed cylinder, it is notdesirable to carry the material as swiftly to the tail end, and it isintended herein to omit the fins or flights altogether in some cases. Infact, the longer the grain is held in the seed cylinder, the betterchance there is of lifting the small impurities by the small indents anddepositing them in the adjustable troughs.

It will be noted that near the tail end of the plate and machine theflights or partitions 2|] are arranged at such angles as to have atendency to carry oats, barley and the larger material with the largerberries of wheat, backwardly toward the head end of the machine (or atleast to no longer hasten, but rather impede, the course toward thetail) so that the indents of the cylinder will have more opportunity topick up the larger berries which might otherwise pass over the tail ofthe cylinder with the oats.

Under certain conditions, I also use segmental plates 2| arranged on thebottom of the plate l0, and these plates slant in a direction oppositeto that of the flights 20 to form with the latter a kind of spiral screwor to obtain a screw action which is indicated somewhat diagrammaticallyby the arrows. The two flights in any event are arranged at such a pitchthat they will readily carry the large impurities to the tail of thecylinder. The outer edges of plates 2| parallel with the inner surfaceof the cylinder and their upper edges extend the full width of the plateH]. In Figure 3, the plate l0 does not have the segmental plates 2|.

Figure 4 shows a modification in which the tail end of the plate I0 isprovided on the lower surface with an arcuate forwardly extending steelplate 25 which also extends the full length of the plate l0, and isadvantageous in separating the seeds from the wheat on the seed cylindersince it prevents bouncing of the seeds so that these particles arecaused to more readily enter the indents. The leveler 25 is spaced fromand is substantially parallel with the inner surface of the drum.

In Figure 6 is shown another modification in which the cylinder l is notrun at quite as high speeds. In this instance a trough 45 is used havingtherein a screw 46 which moves the material toward and into the spout41. The shaft of the screw is journaled at one end in a bearing 48carried by the wall of filling hopper 49 and is journaled at theopposite end in a sleeve 50 carried by a part of the tailings dischargespout 5|. It is noted that the spout 41 traverses this same wall. Thecylinder is operated in a suitable manner well known to this art.

In this instance, the plate i0 is secured by means of fins 52 to thebottom 53 of the trough and therefore, as shown in Figure 6, the plateIn is adapted to move with the trough when the latter is adjusted, andthus a fixed relation is maintained between them. Other fins 54 are alsoprovided which function in a manner similar to fins 20 of Figures 1 to4.

In the bottom or seed cylinder, it has been found, in some instances,that the separation of seeds is better if flights are not used, or it isbetter if the flights are all arranged substantially as shown at 20 inFigure l. The angular arrangement can of course be varied and it is theintention to vary this relation for various types of apparatus accordingto the use to which the apparatus is to be put. It is also contemplatedin some instances to eliminate the flights altogether, particularly inseed cylinders. In the upper cylinder the flights are particularlyvaluable since it is desired to hurry the large impurities to the tailedge of the machine. In the lower cylinder or feed section it is notdesirable to move the material as swiftly to the tail end as in theupper cylinder. The longer the grain is held in the seed cylinder thebetter.

This invention is relatively simple in principle and acts to split orhalve or decidedly reduce the load being carried by the cylinder in thewallowing zone. About one-half the grain is cascaded and is thereaftersupported by the plate, and moved by gravity to its lower end, to causethe material to be directed into the vacant pockets. In a method of thisinvention, the cascading grain is caught and moved practically entirelyacross the cylinder in a substantially horizontal direction. The tilt ofthe plate is preferably very slight, to slow down the travel of thematerial and to spread it out to be acted on by a very much larger areaof the indented surface of the cylinder.

I claim as my invention:

1. In combination with a separating drum having pockets in its innerperiphery, an inclined plate arranged to receive cascaded material anddeliver the same to unfilled pockets of the drum which are moving towardthe load, and an underlying shield spaced from the drum extendingsubstantially longitudinally of the plate near the delivery side of thesame, to prevent bouncing of the load when it is cascaded onto the drum.

2. In combination with a separating drum having pockets in its innerperiphery and trough into which grain is delivered by the drum, a platearranged below the trough to intercept the cascading material and moveit transversely across the drum to deliver the same to the unfilledpockets of the drum, a set of upstanding 15 fins on the upper side ofthe plate, said fins extending transversely of the plate at an inclinedangle to the longitudinal edge of the plate and being adapted to advancematerial during passage across the plate longitudinally towards the tailend of the drum, and a second set of similarly upstanding fins on, andextending transversely of, the upper side of the plate between the firstset of fins and the tail end of the drum, the fins of the second setbeing angularly related to the fins of the first set and being adaptedto feed material across the plate without advancing the samelongitudinally toward the tail end of the drum.

HOWARD H. MOYER.

